1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers for harvesting and shipping agricultural commodities, and more particularly to removable reinforced feet or toes for agricultural commodity bins that are durable and resistant to damage and may be easily repaired or replaced, and related methods of use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Reusable bins have long been in use for storing and transporting agricultural commodities. A typical agricultural storage bin includes a base and four sides, with an open top. The base of a typical bin is supported by a pair of rails which are provided in parallel along two opposite sides of the base. Some bins include a third parallel rail in the center. The rails typically define pairs of parallel slots for receiving the arms of a forklift for raising, lowering, and moving the bin.
In use, agricultural bins are typically moved extensively: to or from fields for filling with agricultural products, around warehouses and cold storage facilities, stacked on top of each other, loaded onto trucks using forklifts, etc. Loaded bins (containing agricultural products) are shipped to production areas such as a cannery, packing house, etc. Under normal conditions, the bins may be subjected to significant stress and/or abuse which often results in damage to the bin. Such damage may occur, for example, when a forklift operator drags a bin across a cement floor or other surface, particularly a rough surface. A forklift operator may also misalign the forks with the fork slots in a bin causing the fork to impact one or more of the support rails of the bin with significant force. The support rails of such containers may also experience damage when insufficiently raised during transport (e.g., the operator of a forklift uses the edges of the forks to slide a container on the floor without lifting the container, or without lifting it sufficiently) causing the rails to scrape across the floor or other abrasive surfaces.
The corners of agricultural bins are often subjected to the greatest damage resulting from uneven or rough handling as the bins are moved about. Since agricultural bins are frequently stacked, the corners require strength to support tall stacks of bins. If a bottom corner of a foot or toe of a bin has been damaged, it may not properly distribute the weight of that bin (including any bins above it) to the bin(s) below, resulting in an unstable stack of bins. Often the bottom corners of agricultural bins become so damaged that they are rendered unusable, requiring replacement of the rails that support them, or replacement the entire base of the bin.
Even a small amount of damage to one area of a support rail may require replacement of the entire rail (which runs along an entire bottom side of a bin), resulting in wasteful expenditures on replacement rails. Additionally, replacement of one or more damaged rails of an agricultural bin requires significant labor, including disassembling the bin and replacement of the damaged rails. Because of these costs, bins with damaged rails may continue to be used until the damage becomes so severe that the bin becomes unusable, at which point the damaged bin may simply be scrapped and replaced (at significant cost).
It is therefore desirable to provide sturdy, reinforced and inexpensive feet or toes for use on agricultural commodity bins that are resistant to damage, and that may be easily repaired, removed and/or replaced in the event of damage, thus providing an alternative to replacement of an entire support rail or an entire bin.